High Diplomacy but No Social Skills?

[Brilliant]

So today I met the man (or little boy, more likely) who is self-proclaimed #5 in Civic Diplomacy on the server. He was putting up +25 crafting buffs in Bordinar's Cleft, and shouting for all the land to hear of his beneficence. I started asking him a couple questions in tells about the crafters in his guild, because I was interested in employing an artificer. The conversation went something like this:

So how often do you put the buffs up?
i do it for my guildies tey r good at crafting
Well, I am actually interested in getting some jewelry crafted for me...
lol we have leik 100 members, i cant keep track of them all
(I /who his guild)
There are only 4 on.
(long pause)
um, there r 8
Hmm, I guess my /who must be broken. Well, thanks anyway. I am not going to send tells to 8 different people asking if they are artificers and if they are nearby and if they can craft what I am looking for because you don't know who your guildies are and can't be bothered to ask... Have a nice day.
lol ok


...Sooooo my question is, what good is it to have high Diplomacy with NPCs if you have jack for social skills with real people?

Plus, why bother spamming the /shout channel with how awesome and beneficent your guild is at crafting, but you don't even know what they craft, and don't bother to try and sell any of it to make an actual reputation with real live people? Even more, a few minutes later a guildie of mine asked the name of that particular guild, because another member of it was running in circles around Khegor's End shouting, "is this KE?!?!11 is this KE?!?!?!!!"
I checked their guild page on the Vanguard site just now, and sure enough, they have 100 members, 84 unique, 1/5 of which are officers (Why do you need 1 officer for every 5 members?), talk about mindless zerg guild in the making!

Is NPC reputation really so important as to outshadow actual reputation with other people on the server?

[Parallax]

Haha, sorry but this has nothing to do with diplomecy...

[frash]

Haha, sorry but this has nothing to do with diplomecy...

It has everything to do with diplomacy. If the one player is saying he puts up the buffs for the crafters, but then fails to get them actual jobs, he sucks at RL diplomacy.

Diplomacy in the game is fun, but I think its really there to stimulate the players and have some RP fun.

[Parallax]

It has everything to do with diplomacy. If the one player is saying he puts up the buffs for the crafters, but then fails to get them actual jobs, he sucks at RL diplomacy.

Diplomacy in the game is fun, but I think its really there to stimulate the players and have some RP fun.

Soooo a Diplomats job is to get crafters work now? haha I seriously doubt the purpose of diplomecy is to cause roleplaying...

This post imo is a cheap jab at some player the OP met in the game and isnt much more then a random flame.

[Brilliant]

di·plo·ma·cy
–noun
1. the conduct by government officials of negotiations and other relations between nations.
2. the art or science of conducting such negotiations.
3. skill in managing negotiations, handling people, etc., so that there is little or no ill will; tact:

It has everything to do with diplomacy. If I wanted to embarrass him or his guild I would have said his name.

I hope you don't think diplomacy is just a random word that Vanguard made up for a mini-game? And often times, in the real world, diplomacy is about securing economic relationships.

And you don't need to RP to practice diplomacy... creating trade relations to make more money, allying with other guilds for mutual benefit, and just keeping your guild's reputation on the server from going down the hole are all examples of real diplomacy, like, with actual "people".

[Euphoria]

i understand what you are saying about Diplomacy not being a word the creators of VG just pulled out of there behind, because obviously its not. However, its not a requirement for people to be "socially inclined" in the real world aspect of the game. Having done Diplomacy up until about 126 skill (I'm breaking right now for adventuring) I've learned diplomacy in VG at least at the civic parlay level isn't very social at all...(its more looking at the 4 colors on the screen and ignoring the text! yay ADD!!)

I think as you get closer to end game Diplomacy you will be more required to interact with your "peers". With the Marketing system slowly falling in place people who play with the grey and black markets are going to have to talk to eachother otherwise someone is going to dominate the market entirely. Not to mention Writs arn't supposed to be entirely easy so I'd assume asking for help would become an issue.

As for your dilema with the manbearpig who you spoke to in tells, he's just one of many people who play the game. No single Diplomat will ever be able to control the levers of a city. Its a group effort and its not easily done as the levers reset constantly.

I hope somewhere in this your question is answered...

[LeviticusD]

Agree with Euphoria.

And besides, even in real life, there are jerks and idiots in diplomacy and politics (and are sometimes still quite successful). :P

[Parallax]

It has everything to do with diplomacy. If I wanted to embarrass him or his guild I would have said his name.

I hope you don't think diplomacy is just a random word that Vanguard made up for a mini-game? And often times, in the real world, diplomacy is about securing economic relationships.

And you don't need to RP to practice diplomacy... creating trade relations to make more money, allying with other guilds for mutual benefit, and just keeping your guild's reputation on the server from going down the hole are all examples of real diplomacy, like, with actual "people".

First you really didnt need to quote the definition of diplomacy for me, I certainly understand the meaning of the word. The point is that you seem to be equating the word and all of its meaning with the *game called* diplomacy in Vanguard. They are not the same thing and trying to critisize someone for not living up to your extreme expectations is over the top imo.

Fact is you brought your personal problem into the forum that is only barely related to the game. If you really want to get some attention for this sort of thing you should try the general forum, its full of it.

[Ayeshala]

I get the point. The guy is good at the card game (and has lots of time on his hand) but bad at interacting with others.

But really, it's like complaining about the Half Giant Warrior being played by a midget. Or the dark elf female by Stan, the 300lbs high school dropout.

[Lizard]

While I agree with the general distaste for the lack of literacy or basic communication skills of far too many players, expecting someone to be good at talking to humans because he's mastered a mechanistic card game is like expecting me to be good in a swordfight because I'm playing a heavy fighter...

(Indeed, the skills needed to master highly tactical 'left brain' games like chess, Magic, or the Diplomacy subsystem are precisely the opposite of those needed to master 'right brain' skills like, uhm, talking to people.)

[Joodah]

Agree with Euphoria.

And besides, even in real life, there are jerks and idiots in diplomacy and politics (and are sometimes still quite successful). :P


We can just think of this "high level" diplomat he met as GW Bush ;) High position of power, low social skills :D

[Therian]

Anyone with the ability to form sentences can attempt to get work for the crafters in their guild. That has nothing to do with the mechanics of sphere of diplomacy, and everything to do with social networking in MMOs.

I could be level 1 in all spheres and do that.

[Lumberg]

I do crafting buff pushing a lot but if you think that means I'm able to "hook" you up with a crafter, well, sorry bud.